Don Barden's House is For Sale.

**D_Town** · November-05-13, 09:22 AM

http://www.realtor.com/realestateand...15-31631?row=4

Can't believe its only going for $500,000

**401don** · November-05-13, 09:29 AM

My 1280 sq. ft. semi in a Toronto suburb lists for 489k. Maybe I should trade?

**davewindsor** · November-06-13, 09:08 AM

Originally Posted by 401don

My 1280 sq. ft. semi in a Toronto suburb lists for 489k. Maybe I should trade?

Yes, you could probably get it cheaper, but it's definitely a good move.

With Toronto's Mayor admitting he's a crack head and vowing to run again and Detroit getting a former drug fighting prosecutor as a Mayor, Toronto is heading down a similar path that Detroit did 40 years ago and Detroit's going to be rising. The wrong or right municipal leadership can make or break a city. Detroit should have recovered like Chicago 40 years ago, but it had bad municipal leadership like Toronto now does. The dark cloud of chaos over Toronto now. And you'll never get rid of him just like Washington could never get rid of Marion Barry. Glad I left years ago.

**mark.vandorn** · November-06-13, 09:23 AM

Originally Posted by davewindsor

Yes, you could probably get it cheaper, but it's definitely a good move.

With Toronto's Mayor admitting he's a crack head and vowing to run again and Detroit getting a former drug fighting prosecutor as a Mayor, Toronto is heading down a similar path that Detroit did 40 years ago and Detroit's going to be rising. The wrong or right municipal leadership can make or break a city. Detroit should have recovered like Chicago 40 years ago, but it had bad municipal leadership like Toronto now does. The dark cloud of chaos over Toronto now. And you'll never get rid of him just like Washington could never get rid of Marion Barry. Glad I left years ago.

Washington, D.C. is probably the most booming city in the nation right now.

**davewindsor** · November-06-13, 09:44 AM

Originally Posted by mark.vandorn

Washington, D.C. is probably the most booming city in the nation right now.

Not when Marion Barry was mayor. In his first term of office, there were dramatic increases in crime and unemployment. The corruption and scandals and crime continued while he was in office. Even today as Councilor for Ward 8 [[Southeast Washington), his ward is plagued by consistently high crime rates, widespread poverty and the corruption scandals continue.

Just in case you wanted some statistics on Marion Barry's Ward 8:
"D.C.’s Ward 8 has the highest unemployment rate of any U.S. metropolitan area with a comparable size workforce, Bloomberg News reported, citing data from the Department of Employment Services.

Ward 8’s jobless rate stood at 25.2 percent in January, up from 23.1 percent in December. El Centro, Calif., had the next-highest unemployment rate at 25.1 percent.

The poverty rate in Ward 8 is now 35 percent..."

http://www.bizjournals.com/washingto...ml?response=no

**Hermod** · November-06-13, 11:15 AM

Originally Posted by mark.vandorn

Washington, D.C. is probably the most booming city in the nation right now.

No thanks to its municipal government.

**mark.vandorn** · November-06-13, 11:24 AM

Originally Posted by Hermod

No thanks to its municipal government.

I was just offering a rebuttal that the mayor doesn't single handedly destroy the town. The crack head former mayor is apparently still on D.C. city clownsel.

**finster** · November-06-13, 09:34 AM

Originally Posted by davewindsor

Yes, you could probably get it cheaper, but it's definitely a good move.

With Toronto's Mayor admitting he's a crack head and vowing to run again and Detroit getting a former drug fighting prosecutor as a Mayor, Toronto is heading down a similar path that Detroit did 40 years ago and Detroit's going to be rising. The wrong or right municipal leadership can make or break a city. Detroit should have recovered like Chicago 40 years ago, but it had bad municipal leadership like Toronto now does. The dark cloud of chaos over Toronto now. And you'll never get rid of him just like Washington could never get rid of Marion Barry. Glad I left years ago.

With all due respect to Detroit, and in full disclosure it has been a few years since I've been to Toronto but I would love for Detroit to be 40% of what Toronto is right now in ten years.

Can you imagine what it would cost to build a gem like than right now? It may need a few bucks in deferred maintenance and updating but I could see some youngish professional DINKS jumping at that in a heartbeat. Remember, it only takes one buyer!

**artds** · November-05-13, 09:47 AM

Very cool house! Here's the Bird's Eye view on Bing

http://binged.it/1dKzQHO

**Hermod** · November-05-13, 10:17 AM

There are places in this country where such a house would be $8 million.

**artds** · November-05-13, 01:43 PM

Originally Posted by Hermod

There are places in this country where such a house would be $8 million.

There are also places in this country where your neighbors aren't murdering each other in record numbers and the school system actually functions like one.

**Gistok** · November-05-13, 03:42 PM

Originally Posted by artds

There are also places in this country where your neighbors aren't murdering each other in record numbers and the school system actually functions like one.

Not exactly one of your more intelligent posts on this forum [[for a lawyer).... when do people in exclusive neighborhoods go to public schools?? And don't tell me that murders don't occur in Beverly Hills, Bel-Air or Brentwood?

**Bham1982** · November-05-13, 04:22 PM

Originally Posted by Gistok

Not exactly one of your more intelligent posts on this forum [[for a lawyer).... when do people in exclusive neighborhoods go to public schools?? And don't tell me that murders don't occur in Beverly Hills, Bel-Air or Brentwood?

I'm pretty sure he was referring to the relative incidence of murders; not whether a murder has ever occured. Obviously Zurich and Kabul both have murders, but I assume one is much more dangerous than the other.

And relative quality of public schools is very important for property values. 500k is a "normal" price in certain suburban school districts, and you can bet that buyers of 500k homes are usually looking at public, not private options.

And even in the most expensive neighborhoods, relative public school quality is extremely important. On the Upper East Side of Manhattan, PS6 is an extremely desirable district, and fancy apartments on one side of the street will cost much more than equally fancy apartments on the other side of the street, strictly because the former are in PS6 boundaries.

Locally, there's a portion of Bloomfield Township in Pontiac School District, and the [[beautiful, lakefront) homes are half the price of equivalent homes in Bloomfield Schools.

**artds** · November-06-13, 09:13 AM

Originally Posted by Gistok

Not exactly one of your more intelligent posts on this forum [[for a lawyer).... when do people in exclusive neighborhoods go to public schools?? And don't tell me that murders don't occur in Beverly Hills, Bel-Air or Brentwood?

I was using the term "neighbors" more broadly than you're assuming. If murders are occurring 2, 3, 4, 5 miles away on a regular basis, that affects your property value. So does the quality of your local public schools system, regardless of whether you happen to use it. Pretty basic concepts here, Gistok. Perhaps its better if you avoid posting in threads about property values. You seem to be one of only a handful of people who can't wrap your head around why the market values this property the way it does.

**abraham** · November-05-13, 10:18 AM

Whos don barden?

**DetroitPlanner** · November-05-13, 11:00 AM

Originally Posted by abraham

Whos don barden?

Are you kidding???

Two things about the realtor ad: No interior shots makes me believe that either the inside is in bad shape or this is a HUD house.

It is being sold for 250 percent of the assessed value. Taxes are currently about $12k.

**56packman** · November-05-13, 11:25 AM

I was in that house in 1981 when it belonged to William Stone, husband of Detroit News fashion editor Tavvy Stone. The house is one big Hollywood set, it is all front, it isn't very deep. I can't imagine the utility bills.

**Hamtragedy** · November-05-13, 12:33 PM

Guess the kids couldn't sort any part of that mess out.

But, man, if I had 500K sittin' around!!!!! That was my favorite & smoothest rollerblade track in town, with zero traffic. I would live on Fairway in a heartbeat, especially since it's fenced off at McNichols.

**courtney** · November-05-13, 02:41 PM

Interior pictures can be seen at http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/18...88732475_zpid/ .

It needs updating [[I think that bright blue carpet made me queasy and if the picture of the "kitchen" is the only kitchen in the house, just, wow), but it's certainly livable.

**DetroitPlanner** · November-05-13, 03:30 PM

Originally Posted by courtney

Interior pictures can be seen at http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/18...88732475_zpid/ .

It needs updating [[I think that bright blue carpet made me queasy and if the picture of the "kitchen" is the only kitchen in the house, just, wow), but it's certainly livable.

I was thinking the same thing about the kitchen. Not much of a kitchen for a home of that size, though I have seen some Indian Village homes with the original kitchens that have surprised me with how primitive they are. I like the bathroom covered in mirrors myself. Yeah like I want to see myself when I am grunting one out!

**Zacha341** · November-05-13, 09:07 PM

That's got to be a secondary maid quarters kitchen. The main kitchen must have problems though since it was not shown.... DTE bill must be at least a grand a month!

Originally Posted by courtney

Interior pictures can be seen at http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/18...88732475_zpid/ .

It needs updating [[I think that bright blue carpet made me queasy and if the picture of the "kitchen" is the only kitchen in the house, just, wow), but it's certainly livable.

**Maof** · November-05-13, 03:43 PM

guess we missed the estate sale....
http://www.estatesales.net/estate-sa...t/48221/525234

**jackie5275** · November-05-13, 07:03 PM

Originally Posted by Maof

guess we missed the estate sale....
http://www.estatesales.net/estate-sa...t/48221/525234

Too much brass & glass, stuff looks late 80s/early 90s.

**pkbroch** · November-05-13, 03:58 PM

The kitchen in the photo is in the servants quarters over the three car garage. The condition of the marble on the floors looks great.

I also was inside the home when Bill Stone owned it.

**courtney** · November-05-13, 05:36 PM

Originally Posted by pkbroch

The kitchen in the photo is in the servants quarters over the three car garage. The condition of the marble on the floors looks great.

I also was inside the home when Bill Stone owned it.

I'm actually quite pleased to find out that what I hoped was a second/servants kitchen is.

That being said, I wonder how bad the main kitchen is? It must be a 1970s/1980s "modernized" nightmare, because vintage kitchens are actually far more loved and would likely be more of a positive in a house of that era rather than a negative.

Of course, I'm not counting on a real estate agent who writes a bad description in all caps and has some really poor quality images to really know that.

I must not be cut out for "old mansion" living - the amount I'd wanted changed to de-tacky it would be far more costly than the house itself. Same thing for all of the houses I see listed on the lake in GP. I love them from the outside, but inside, they are just a mess. Give me a far more simple, tasteful Craftsman style house any day over huge, gaudy interiors.